Thwack… the harness that held the sail down to the gunwale gave way and the thrashing sail flopped
MC Calvary crewmen scurried about cutting harnesses, wrapping sails around the gaff, channeling the flood off the deck. Capt. Maxi watched the whole thing without emotions from the prow, his knuckles white from gripping the gunwale. This wasn’t how he’d envisaged the end of his great fishing career on earth. “North-East’s Finest Sailor lost at sea” the headlines would read.
He thought about all the stories he had heard about sailors dying at sea and their final words. He knew this night wasn’t going to last long because the storm had just begun and he knew what the word “cyclone” meant… this storm had the tell-tale signs of that monster written all over it.
The waves crested again and passed immediately… their descent reminded Capt. Maxi of the crests on the highways to his village… He missed the hollow feeling that made one’s heartbeat increase whenever a crest was passed on the highway… but this wasn’t a highway… this was an ocean without borders… without solace… a moaning ocean thirsting for souls… calling… beckoning…
As they descended, Capt. Maxi looked round to see his dejected men hold on tightly to anything that would reduce the impact whenever MV Calvary hit water again… they all looked scared and knew what he knew… this night was not going to last long… no Captain deserved this looks from men who looked up to him
He gazed down at his feet and saw the words he had engraved on the prow when he bought the trawler – PEACE BE STILL… the words of His master Jesus… he was a Christian but this was beyond his faith… Still he muttered the words… not in hope that the storm would pass but that their deaths would be in peace…
“Peace be still” he repeated silently, his eyes closed… his heart at peace… and his spirit ready to be poured out “Peace be still”…
Before they bottomed out, another crest caught them in mid-air and took them up… at the peak of the crest, Capt. Maxi heard a screeching sound and looked round at his men. They all had their eyes shut…
“Peace be still” he muttered again… ready for anything
Then the trawler stopped moving… MV Calvary was perfectly still… still in the raging storm… not swaying… not canting… not tilting… but perfectly still in the belly of the cyclone. Everyone opened their eyes and noticed that the storm was still raging about them, several feet below them. Yet, their ship was steady.
Capt. Maxi peeked beyond the gunwale and observed that they had crested on a rock. The rock had a groove that the trawler’s keel fitted perfectly into. Reverent awe washed over him… there was no record of such a rock in the pacific… no scientific expedition had evidence of this and in all his 37-years of sailing Capt. Maxi had never heard of this rock…
This was no ordinary rock… This was the Rock of Ages… this was Christ himself… Capt. Maxi knelt and his entire crew followed suit…
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